What was the last GREAT UK entry?

Kratz

Kratz

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If Moopyvision noughties (hat-tip to @Penelope) has taught us anything, it is that the UK was perhaps not quite so terrible in the noughties as remembered (or at the very least, more charmingly terrible) but it has certainly been poor more often that not. With this in mind, what was the UK’s last truly GREAT Eurovision entry?

For me it has to be ‘Where Are You’? Watching the performance back it feels like an example of the stars aligning almost perfectly. A killer song (which has aged well), a great live performance and fantastic staging…all on home turf. It is probably the last UK entry that can give me chills. The moment that first chorus kicks in on stage is all kinds of :disco:

 
Tisch said:
I'm still annoyed Lucie couldn't do better than 15th. It didn't change lives or anything, but it was at least different and performed very strongly. :(

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I umm and ahh about Lucie somewhat. I always think she was better than the song itself - it was a very strong performance but the song always struck me as a bit joyless (appreciate that is part of the point of it!) and maybe that was reflected in the lacklustre televote. Should definitely have gone top ten though.
 
Obviously in 6 months time the answer to this question will be ‘Why 2022 of course, Kratz, you silly goose!’
 
Never Give Up On You was refreshingly competent, but I’d never describe it as GREAT.

Anyway Imaani, it’s Imaani.
 
If Lucie could have been paired with something like Not With Me by Wiktoria, THAT could have been great IMO

 
Lucie for the song - I always felt her facial expressions in the live performance were rather offputting (musical theatre rather than pop performance). For all things considered, Imaani.
 
I have to remind myself how close Imaani came to winning - 1998 is usually framed as an Israel / Malta battle but the UK of course pipped Malta to second place (thanks to that GAG of a final score from the artist formerly know as FYROM) - 8 points from the win!
 
There have been at least ten UK entries since Imaani that I prefer to Imaani.

I would probably say Lucie in answer to the question (as much as I have a massive soft spot for SuRie) but are people really skipping past the likes of Blue, Jade and Jessica Garlick as well?
 
Tisch said:
I'm still annoyed Lucie couldn't do better than 15th. It didn't change lives or anything, but it was at least different and performed very strongly. :(

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I still think the version she performed where she got selected was better than the final seemed a bit rawer
 
Imaani is easily the last time we sent something I was genuinely like 'this is great, a good mix of contemporary, but also right for the contest'...

The only other one that I PERSONALLY love is Molly, but I know I'm pretty much alone on that.
 
cwej said:
Imaani is easily the last time we sent something I was genuinely like 'this is great, a good mix of contemporary, but also right for the contest'...

The only other one that I PERSONALLY love is Molly, but I know I'm pretty much alone on that.
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Nah, I think I agree with you on Molly. Good song, dreadfully performed.
 
I legit love Never Give Up On You. Well performed, the kind of big ballad the UK excels at.

I often wonder what her fate would have been had she performed the poppers o clock remix.

Since Imanni, Blue, Precious, Lucie and Jessica were not shameful. Jade too I suppose - it did the business at least, despite not being a great listen.
 
2014 was the first year I followed as a EUROLOON so was caught up in the UK’S GONNA WIN hype, only for THAT perf to happen :basil:

I like 2017, Lucie deserved to do a bit better but the song was so DULL. No one cared for it until the contest.

98 is easily our last ‘great’ entry. I do think we’d have had a shot of doing an Ireland and winning three years on the trot had Dana won the National final back in 1995 and televoting been introduced a year earlier.
 
I seem to remember liking this year's, but I've completely forgotten what it was now!

Molly was genuinely a brilliant entry.
 
In 2011 I did genuinely think we might win, but that was probably more about the overall standard than about our song.

I'm another in the Imaani camp for this.
 
Katrina. Imaani was very good, but not great.
 
Just looking at Where Are You's chart run and it appears it was released a full 8 weeks before the Contest (presumably just after she won the national final).

I wonder if she could have gone top ten if they'd held her back a bit? It wasn't common for songs to have slow-climb chart runs in 1998.

96-99-85-94-76-76-60-32-15-24-33-47-63-91-94
 
As much as I love Imaani and occasionally wonder who stole my cd of hers, there have been many UK entries I love, and to me, they are equally great.
 
VoR said:
Just looking at Where Are You's chart run and it appears it was released a full 8 weeks before the Contest (presumably just after she won the national final).

I wonder if she could have gone top ten if they'd held her back a bit? It wasn't common for songs to have slow-climb chart runs in 1998.

96-99-85-94-76-76-60-32-15-24-33-47-63-91-94
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Eurovision songs normally bounced around during that era of peak first weeks.
 
Soldi said:
2014 was the first year I followed as a EUROLOON so was caught up in the UK’S GONNA WIN hype, only for THAT perf to happen :basil:

I like 2017, Lucie deserved to do a bit better but the song was so DULL. No one cared for it until the contest.

98 is easily our last ‘great’ entry. I do think we’d have had a shot of doing an Ireland and winning three years on the trot had Dana won the National final back in 1995 and televoting been introduced a year earlier.
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Agreed. 96, 97, 98 is an astonishing run of entries and I think you could argue that the entire 1992 - 1998 run is one of the strongest from any country throughout the history of the contest. ‘Lonely Symphony’ was absolutely robbed (if not of a win, then certainly a top 5 finish) and ‘Love City Groove’ was a forward looking and really quite brave entry considering how conservative the contest was at that time.
 
Ok but if we had sent MAID with Freaks the answers in this a thread with be ERY different
 
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